Research Interests

I am a social and personality psychologist interested in the basic processes underlying social perception, stereotyping, and prejudice. More specifically, I study how social categories -- such a gender, race, age, and attractiveness -- affect initial impressions in positive and negative ways. I also have expertise in helping organizations understand and mitigate unconsious bias in the workplace.  

I work collaboratively with undergraduate students and run a social cognition lab with these co-researchers each semester. Co-researchers   develop their critical thinking, statistical reasoning, and research methodology skills. They also gain expertise in implicit measurement, advanced statistical analyses, survey design, and online data collection methods (e.g, IAT, Qualtrics, SPSS, M-Turk).

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Teaching

I regularly teach statistics, research methods, and social psychology. I rotate special topics courses (e.g., psychology of women, stereotyping and prejudice, or close relationships) each spring.  My goal as a teacher is to foster students' critical thinking and to enhance their self efficacy by practicing challenging research and statistical skills. I also help students to understand cognitive bias and how it operates in self and other evaluation. 

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Educational
and Professional Background

I am originally from Summit, New Jersey. I was first an English major at University of Delaware.  I  added psychology as a major after I fell in love with the feminist empiricist framework within the psychology of women.  Although I  identify as research scientist, I am connected to my literary background -- especially the themes of nature, emotion, and intuition in the Romantics(e.g., Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron, and Keats) and the moderns (E.g., William Carlos Williams, Erica Jong, James Dickey).

I earned my Ph.D. in Social and Personality Psychology in 1999 -- a program that was deeply immersed in critical and postmodern theory. I taught over thirty sections of undergraduate psychology courses while in graduate school (Hunter College, Montclair State University). After completing my Ph.D., I did my postdoctoral research in social cognition at University of Washington from 2000-2001.  I have been at William Paterson University since fall of 2002.  

I am a member of  APS,  a board member at large for APA Division 8 (social and personality) and a member of division 35 (women). 

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Personal

I have two spirited children whom I adore. I am a long distance runner, skier, yoga practitioner, daydreamer, music lover, and photography hack.